Living on brink of disaster
Land caves in after breach in sewer line
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, Sept 25 — Residents in a pocket of Sector 71 are virtually living on the brink of disaster after a big chunk of land caved in following a breach in a sewer line.

The breach, noticed by the residents of the area about a month ago, has yet to catch the attention of the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) and the Public Health wing of the Public Works Department. Visits by an Executive Engineer (XEN) and a Sub-divisional Engineer (SDO) have not resulted in any action on the ground.

The gravity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that the breach in the sewer line, which had resulted in about a 50-foot long and 20-foot wide depression, is adjoining 16-marla houses in Sector 71. Any further widening of the caved in portion of the earth could result in a severe damage to the adjoining houses. Foul smell emanating from the open breached portion of the sewer has made life of the residents in the area miserable.

In the absence of the fencing of the 10-foot depression, danger of any person falling into it under the cover of darkness looms large on the heads of the residents. Their fears are not unfounded as last week a horse, while grazing, had fallen into it.

Mr Kulwant Singh, living in house no. 121, says, "After requests, the PUDA authorities placed about 200 sand bags around the depression to prevent its any further widening."

To add to their woes, a high tension (HT) wire passes precariously close to the depression. The residents fear that delay in action could result in a disaster. The maintenance of the water and sewer lines of the sector had been handed over to the Public Health Department last year.

Sources reveal that the department had prepared an estimate of Rs 3.5 lakh, but the work is yet to start. Residents say that last year a breach in the section of the sewer line had resulted in the collapse of the back boundary wall of House No. 119.

Lok Adalat ‘‘remedy for delays’’
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — The Indian judicial system is not only inadequate to dispense justice to the litigant public but is also very costly, observed Mr Justice N.K. Sodhi, a Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court who is also the Executive Chairman of the Chandigarh Legal Services Authority, while inaugurating a Lok Adalat at the local District Courts today.

Mr Justice Sodhi compared the Indian judicial system with a five-star hotel. Just as middle or lower-middle class people cannot afford to visit a five-star hotel, similarly poor people cannot approach the judiciary because of the expensive litigation system.

‘‘Heaps of cases are piling up in courts. Long delays in deciding these cases breed frustration among litigants,’’ Mr Justice Sodhi told the audience. He added: ‘‘I shudder to think of a day when the pent up feelings of the litigants may explode and create complete anarchy in the society. To ward off such a situation Lok Adalats are organised to provide speedy and cheap justice to the public.’’

The Lok Adalat is the brainchild of necessity, said Mr Justice Sodhi. It has numerous advantages. First, cases are decided with the mutual consent of the parties to the case. Therefore, there is no rancour, no ill-feeling. Second, there is no appeal against the decision hammered out at the Lok Adalat. The decisions arrived at Lok Adalats are executed immediately. Third, there is no victory or defeat of any party. Fourth, in certain cases even the court fee is refunded to the party.

The Chandigarh Legal Services Authority has evolved a few new schemes to help the poor and the deprived, revealed Mr Justice Sodhi. First, in the court of each Magistrate a standing counsel has been appointed to render legal assistance to the poor. Second, legal services are provided to those persons whose annual income is up to Rs 3,000. Third, permanent Lok Adalats are set up both at the District Courts and the High Court. Fourth, mediation counselling centres have been set up to reduce litigation.

Earlier, presiding over the Lok Adalat, Mr Justice R.S. Mongia, first pusine Judge of the High Court, said the concept of the Lok Adalat was not new. He revealed that the concept of Lok Adalat was conceived as far back as 1976 when the 42nd Amendment in the Constitution was made and Article 39-A was introduced. The Article enjoined on the state to provide free justice to the public.

Mr Justice Mongia regretted that the state government took more than a decade to enact the Legal Services Authorities Act. Although the Act came into being in 1987, it was actually enforced only in 1998.

In resolving cases at the Lok Adalat efforts are made to bring about a compromise between the parties to the case. In doing so the Lok Adalat decides the cases in favour of both parties. The great advantage of the Lok Adalat is that it is not required to adhere to the technicalities of law, said Mr Justice Mongia.

Mr Justice Mongia, however, said the success of the Lok Adalat depended on the cooperation extended by advocates. They have to persuade their clients to accept a mutually hammered out solution to their case.

Both Mr Justice Mongia and Mr Justice Sodhi appealed to advocates to extended their cooperation in solving as many cases as was possible. And their willing cooperation did help today’s Lok Adalat to resolve a large number of cases.

At today’s Lok Adalat as many as 11 benches were constituted. These were presided over by Mr S.K. Sardana, Member-Secretary of the State legal Services Authority of Chandigarh, Mr S.S. Lamba, Mr G.S. Sandhu, Mr R.C. Godara, Mrs Sudershna Modi, all Additional District and Sessions Judges, Mr Sant Parkash, Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr H.S. Madan, Civil Judge, Senior Division, Mr Jasbir Singh, Mrs Jatinder Walia and Mr A.K. Bishnoi, all Civil Judges Junior Division.

These Lok Adalats decided 188 cases of motor accident claims and land acquisition cases and gave compensation of Rs 2.12 crore to the parties.

The Chief Judicial Magistrate decided more than 1200 cases of summer trial under the traffic rules and the Shop and Commercial Establishment Act.

Both Mr Justice Mongia and Mr Justice Sodhi oversaw the functioning of the Lok Adalat.

The Lok Adalat also resolved eight matrimonial dispute cases.

Resumption notices cancelled
By Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — The estate office has cancelled resumption notices it had issued on grounds of purported ''wrong allotment'' to 63 residential plots holders in the southern sectors of the city.

The residential property, collectively valued at more than Rs 15 crore, had been allegedly wrongly allotted to the ''oustees'', whose lands had been acquired for the development of the third phase of the city. The cases against the 63 plot holders were dropped after they moved court. Letters informing the allottees about the decision were despatched in the past three days by the estate office, sources confirmed.

The court had ruled that it was no fault of the allottees that the estate office authorities carried out ''wrong allotment''. Almost all the allottees had spend several lakhs on constructing the houses on the plots. According to sources the court also gave directions to carry out departmental action against a former Assistant Estate Officer (AEO) and some lower-level functionaries, who threw all norms to the winds while carrying out the allotment.

According to information available with The Tribune a total of 63 plots of varying sizes were allotted to persons whose lands in Moja Kajheri and Nizampur Kumbra villages were acquired for the third phase of the city. These plots were in lieu of the land and were located in various sectors of the city.

According to a scheme of 1972 to rehabilitate ''oustees'' it was mentioned that they would be considered for allotment for alternative housing plots but it was not for the land acquired for the third phase. Actually, these 63 allottees were not eligible for the plots that they got as compensation.

Meanwhile, another 181 applications of oustees are pending. For this the Administration has decided to consider them under the 1996 scheme for allotment of flats.

In July Mr Mahavir Singh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB), was asked to conduct an enquiry and submit his report with clear-cut findings fixing responsibility of officials responsible for wrong allotments under the scheme. The whole issue may have cost the Administration more than Rs 15 crore as the auction price of the plots as on today is even much more.

Automation to ensure speedy results
By Sanjeev Singh Bariana
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — Today when students in Panjab University crib about delay in declaration of results, introduction of automation for checking entrance examination on computer, faster than the existing service, should give some relief to students.

Introduction of the ORM services for evaluation of entrance test answer-sheets would enable compilation of the result within three or four days of the test. The existing service normally took more than a fortnight. The existing system also involved manual effort because the answer choice marked by the candidate had to be rechecked after evaluation. The new system would be able to overcome this obstacle, Dr Sodhi Ram, Controller of Examination, said.

The use of computers would enable faster evaluation of professional courses' entrance tests, including those of LlB, LlM, M.ED, MA (education) and other courses which give the option of marking choices on answer-sheets.

Automation of the Examination Branch is to be followed by computerisation of the General Branch. Dr Sodhi Ram said the department was likely to to manage operations independently. The Computer Science Department helped in setting up the system. Currently, the system is loading the data of the lower undergraduate classes. Dr Sodhi Ram said within no time, the entire data of university students could be compiled on computers.

The compilation of the data would save a lot of time in verifying academic records of candidates. Instead of looking for files and papers, computer could easily tell whether a particular document could be found in the candidate's file which could then be saved. Management and storage of data process could be made simpler and could be made paperless.

Each paper assessed by the computer currently has to be rechecked manually for the reply of each objective-type answer separately. The new system would save time as the checking process would be continuous. Candidates would only need darker pencils to mark their answers.

Binder Singh, a former President of the Panjab University Students Union said computers promised little hope under the existing system. "The entire system needs to be revamped. A high-level committee, comprising professors, serious students and non-teaching staff needs to plan future course of action under the existing system. Vision of a Utopia by various recommendations and discussions on the academic platform in the university meant nothing unless it could show results," he said.

Sources in the Examination Branch said time management with regards to increased examination related duties made way for delay. Delay in a year only added on to the next years. Computers promise better functioning and timely declaration of results.

Dowry victim's husband, father-in-law get RI
From Our Correspondent

DERA BASSI, Sept 25 — Mr M.S. Chauhan, Additional Sessions Judge, has sentenced two persons to eight years of rigorous imprisonment in a dowry death case. The accused, Ravi Verma and his father Baru Ram, are residents of Rajpura and were challaned by the Dera Bassi police for driving Anju, wife of Ravi Varma, to commit suicide by setting herself on fire on August 5, 1994, because of their demands for dowry.

Mr Mohan Lal Verma, father of the deceased, had lodged a complaint against Ravi Verma, Baru Ram Verma and Nirmala Devi, the husband, father-in-law and mother-in-law of Anju, respectively. Nirmala Devi had died during the trial.

The complainant had alleged that the accused had been harassing Anju with their demands ever since her marriage in March, 1994. According to the complaint, she was beaten to force her to bring Rs 50,000 from her parents, after which she committed suicide.

The police had registered a case under Section 304-B against the trio.

Experts discuss contact lenses
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — All types of contact lenses are medical devices and there could be nothing more disastrous for the eyes than "ready-to-pick-from-the-shelf" lenses, without consulting an authorised eye practitioner. And in today's fast-paced world disposable lenses not only make more sense, but also offer to be the best bet since they take care of all health and hygiene negligence. These were some of the views expressed by experts at the inaugural day of the two-day national symposium on 'Contact lenses and vision correction alternatives', organised by the Department of Ophthalmology, PGI, here, today.

Prof B.K. Sharma, Director, PGIMER, in his inaugural address said that although commercialisation of technology in the field of vision correction methods had its drawbacks, but without it new technology was difficult to come by. He added that there had been great progress in contact lens technology and other methods in the correction of refractive errors but much needed to be done in formulating clear instructions on material, cost and safe application of the technology to the masses.

The Director also informed that the state-of-the-art four-storeyed building of the Advanced Eye Centre is under consideration of the government, and is likely to be located near the new OPD block. The centre would provide advanced eye care facilities. In a news report published in this newspaper on September 22, it was inadvertently mentioned that the centre would be situated near the library and that the 'bhoomi-pujan' had been performed for the same.

Meanwhile, Prof Amod Gupta, Head of the Department, clarified that no doctor was sent for any training by the institute for this purpose as mentioned in the said report.

Prof I.S. Jain, Professor Emeritus, PGIMER, who presided over the function, narrated his efforts in promoting quality contact lens practice in the region. Prof Amod Gupta, recommended such kind of CME programmes where the emphasis is on imparting quality education.

Dr Murli from L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, described the future of vision correction alternatives in the background of current practices and past developments. He also talked about silicon lenses used for correcting cataract in children in the age group of one year and below, which though are not easily available in the country at the moment, but are easy to handle by both the children and the parents.

Dr S.K. Chopra, CMC, Ludhiana, said that it is a misconception that contact lenses halt or correct defective vision. The lenses are meant for clarity, he said.

Dr K.P. Chaudhary from Shimla presented a format on lessons and teaching modules that needed to be imparted to new postgraduates in ophthalmology.

Dr E. Vaithialingam from Chennai brought home the limitations of the different plastics used in contact lens manufacture. He also emphasised on proper maintenance of contact lenses.

In the session on 'soft contact lenses', Rajesh Wadhwa, an optometrist from New Delhi, said that the bio-focal lens is the latest concept. He quoted his experience of higher safety and patient satisfaction with planned frequent replacement of contact lenses. Dr Narender Kumar from New Delhi detailed different material properties used in the lens manufacture.

Dr R.S. Gill from Patiala explained complications which might occur with contact lenses. Rigid gas permeable lenses fitting philosophies and procedures were discussed by Monica Chaudhary from AIIMS, New Delhi.

Dr Ashok Sharma detailed procedures for investigating decrease in contact lens wear time. Dr Aashish Bansal from Hyderabad discussed the possibility of infection with contact lens wear.

The symposium also included a hands-on workshop conducted by Dr Jagjit S. Saini, PGI, with the help of B. Ramesh and Ashutosh from New Delhi.

Sacred Heart wins Green Trophy
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — Green Olympiad, the first declamation contest on environment for city students organised by Tata Energy Research Institute, concluded at Shivalik Public School, Sector 41, yesterday.

The event, which witnessed participation of about 150 students from various schools, was aimed at creating awareness among students about environment.

Students participated in a quiz based on questions relating to topics such as air and water pollution, environmental-friendly initiatives and practices, land and water resources, forests, wildlife and social and economic aspects of natural resources.

In the declamation contest students deliberated on 'Environmental Concerns: a child's perspective'. The winning team comprised Sandeep Kaur of Sacred Heart School, Mridula of Shivalik Public School and Shweta of Bhavan Vidyalaya.

The Green Rolling Trophy was cornered by Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School. The first, second and third positions of the Olympiad were bagged by Vineet Rajan of Sector 16 Government Senior Secondary School, Jagmohan Singh of Shivalik Public School and Tanya Goyal of Sacred Heart Sr Secondary School. Later, the students took the 'New Millennium Pledge', purporting to create a vibrant and healthy planet.

The event, which was part of a series that took off in New Delhi on April 27, World Earth Day, will culminate in a national level quiz — Terraquiz. The winners will be given awards by Mr K.R. Narayanan, President of India, in New Delhi on February 18, said Ms Annapurna Vanacheswaran, official of TERI.

Mr Kanhayia Lal Sharma, Senior Deputy Mayor, stressed on the need to create awareness among children about the importance of a healthy environment. He said that the decision makers should take environmental aspects into consideration before taking major decisions, particularly in case of Chandigarh as it had set highest environmental standards, which needed to be maintained.

Air Force School function held
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — A colourful function was organised by students of 3 BRD Air Force School at LECMA auditorium today.

The programme commenced with Saraswati Vandana and was followed by a patriotic song by tiny tots. The highlight of the evening was the presentation of a humorous play "The Lost Silk Hat". The audience enjoyed English dance, Punjabi songs, puppet show and poems on Kargil.

Earlier, the Principal, Mrs Kiran Datta, read out the annual report highlighting the achievement of students in various fields.

Later, Mrs Madhu Aggarwal, President, AFFWA, who was the chief guest gave away the prizes. While Anshu was the winner in the Hindi poem recitation contest, Neha Kapoor of Class V was the winner in the English poem recitation contest. Anisha of Class VII won the prize for the Hindi declamation contest, while Nidhi Kapoor won it for the English declamation contest.

Neha, Neha Sharma, Shruti, Jyoti Mishra and Amrinder were the winners of the Hindi calligraphy, while Kulkirti, Pankaj Roy, Jyoti Mishra and Jag Mohan topped the English calligraphy contest.

Vishwakirti, the school topper in the board examination with 84 per cent marks, was awarded a scholarship of Rs 251 by the AFFWA. The students who have performed well in the annual examinations were also given prizes.

Art students awarded
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — The prize distribution function of the Annual Art Exhibition '99 was held at Government College of Art here yesterday.

Heeral Roy bagged the Sushil Sarkar Award in applied art. Jagdeep Kaur won the Amrita Shergil Award in painting. Malkeet Singh was given the Dr M.S. Randhawa award in graphics printmaking. Vishal Bhatnagar won the S.L. Prasher award in sculpture. Sikander Singh won the Sujan Singh Memorial Award for overall best entry.

Besides these, 48 students were awarded first, second and third prizes in each class. Prem Singh, an artist, gave away the prizes. He announced that a fortnight-long programme of art and cultural activities by the students of the college would be held to celebrate the entry into the next millennium.

Earlier, a jury selected 53 works of outstanding merit. There were 650 works in all, pertaining to applied art, painting, graphics and sculpture.

Talk on Careers in Armed Forces
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — "The safety, honour and welfare of your country comes first, always and everytime," these words of Filed Marshal Chetwood were quoted by Major General Gurbaksh Singh, AVSM (retd), in his address to students at a talk on 'Career in the Armed Forces' organised at DAV Public School in Sector 8-C here today.

Col Vijay Singh of the CME in Chandi Mandir enumerated various advantages that one acquired in this career. "The armed forces offer a job full of challenges, mental satisfaction, respect and a status in life," he said. He also explained at length the procedure for entry into the forces through the UPSC examination.

He talked about the eligibility criterion with regard to educational qualifications, age, height, weight etc. for all three wings of the armed forces. He said forces allowed girls entry into the IMA and the OTA after graduation or postgraduation. However, Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) was the only branch where girls and boys could enter into the Army Medical Corps after Class XII.

Later, General Gurbaksh Singh (retd) told some interesting anecdotes from his experiences in the Army, touching upon practical aspects of the Army life. The talk was made interesting through posters and handouts.

Teaching workshop concludes
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — A three-day workshop organised by the State Institute of Education in Sector 32 to make teaching a learning experience concluded here today. As many as 49 teachers from city schools attended the workshop.

The objective of this workshop was to guide teachers in changing their methods of teaching to make learning a joyful experience for students of elementary classes. Dr H.C. Sharma, Director of the Institute, in his inaugural address, said the prime objective of education in elementary classes was to help students know themselves and their environment, besides imparting knowledge of the three 'R's.

In the workshop, effective use of environment, improvised apparatus and low-cost material was made. Special training was given by teachers to develop motor skills in children, besides developing cognitive domain. The works of teachers were displayed at the valedictory function.

Vasundhra tops paper reading
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — Vasundhra from the Government College for Girls, Sector 11, won the paper reading contest on tourism promotion organised by the Dr Ambedkar Institute of Hotel Management, Catering and Nutrition, Sector 42, here today.

Meenakshi from the Food Crafts Institute and Shweta from GCG, Sector 11, stood second and third, respectively.

The highlight of the function was the papers read out in Hindi and Punjabi. Harmandeep Singh from the FCI and Kamal from the host college were applauded for their performance.

Mr Niranjan Singh, Principal Secretary Tourism, was the chief guest on the occasion.

Ad hoardings removed
From Our Correspondent

ZIRAKPUR, Sept 25 — The owners of the advertisement hoardings have started removing hoardings, sign boards, neon signs and other boards displaying advertisements along the National Highway, here as per the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Eight hoardings on the private buildings facing the highway were pulled down by their owners till late this evening. The hoardings have been removed as the court had asked the council for Punjab and Haryana to submit the detailed report regarding the removal of hoardings till October, 11.

The court, in July last year, had directed, "All sign boards, hoardings and neon sign boards facing the highways, main roads and lanes should be removed within a month from the date of pronouncement of the judgement."

Kaushik to replace Sekhri
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — The Chandigarh Administration has finalised the name of Mr R.K. Kaushik, a PCS officer, to replace Mr Arun Sekhri, posted as Secretary STA and Director Industries. Since Mr Sekhri is the Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) for the poll process the change may be effected after October 6, when the counting for the Lok Sabha poll is over.

Sources said that Mr Gurmail Singh, posted as Under Secretary, Home, and Mr Prithi Chand , posted as Director, Social Welfare, have requested that they be returned to their parent cadre of Punjab.

6 hurt as truck, fire engine collide
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, Sept 25 — At least six persons were injured in a collision between a fire engine of the local fire station and a truck of a Chandigarh-based dairy at the Kumbara traffic lights here yesterday.

The fire engine (PB-12-1429) was racing towards Kumbara village to attend to a fire call when a truck (PB-12-1186) of Uttam Dairy was coming from Chandigarh.

Four of the injured persons, Kulwinder Singh (driver), Amar Singh, Pal Singh and Raj Singh — all on board the fire engine, were injured. The driver of the truck, Sarovar Singh, received serious injuries.

A passer-by, Kamaljit Singh, was also injured when the fire engine screeched along the road for about 15 metres before taking a spin and landing on its side. However it could not ascertained as to which vehicle was at fault.

The police had not registered a case till late in the evening.

Broken pieces of glass were scattered all over the place.

University teachers to hold rallies
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — The North Zone Council of the All-India Federation of University Teachers' Associations (AIFUTA) at a meeting held here today decided to observe October 18 as "Resentment Day" at the national level to arouse the conscience of the masses towards their legitimate demands.

According to a release issued by the General Secretary, Mr Satya P. Gautam, the university teachers will hold rallies and dharnas on their respective campuses to express their resentment and indignation over the indifferent attitude of the government towards their long-pending demands.

The meeting was attended by the presidents, secretaries and other office-bearers of the University Teachers' Associations in the region. They expressed solidarity with the university teachers in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Bihar, West Bengal and the North-East who are still struggling for the implementation of the pay revision due since January, 1996. They also pointed out that the pay-revision of teachers in the technical universities had not been implemented, thus causing hardship to the faculty.

They also took note of various other anomalies in the fixation of pay in the revised pay scales. It was also resolved that the UGC and the HRD Ministry should notify the modalities for placement in the super-selection grade for university professors. The members also demanded that such university teachers who give evidence of active participation in seminars and conferences at the regional and national level, should be exempted from the requirement of participating in refresher courses. They have also urged that the career advancement scheme should be implemented from the date of revision — January 1, 1996.

They unanimously demanded the restoration of the facility of encashed leave. They also expressed strong indignation over the exclusion of enhancement in the age of superannuation from 60 to 62 years in the notification of pay revision issued by various State Governments.

4 chargesheeted for trespass
From Our Correspondent

KHARAR, Sept 25 — Mrs Neelam Arora, Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Kharar, has chargesheeted four persons, including a woman, for causing injuries and trespassing on the house of a retired major Harmohinder Singh.

According to a copy of the order received here the court chargesheeted Ranjit Kaur, Jasbir Singh and Baljeet Singh (both brothers of Ranjit Kaur) and Kulwant Singh. Major Singh is the Secretary of the World Human Rights Protection Council.

The Judge has written in her order that the accused on October 12, 1993 caused hurt to Major Singh and Mr Surinder Singh (brother-in-law of Major Singh). The Judge has written that the accused trespassed on the building of Major Singh in Phase 9, SAS Nagar.

The court has written that they committed offences under sections 323, 452, 34, IPC, and has ordered that the accused be tried and punished for the above said offence.

Meanwhile, it is worth mentioning that the District and Sessions Judge, Ropar, had on August 25, 1999, ordered that all accused should be tried for trespassing also, as earlier the Kharar court had not included this charge when they were chargesheeted on September 15, 1997 in the same case.

Hindi Week ends
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — Celebrations in connection with the Hindi Week concluded at the Sector 47 Kendriya Vidalaya here today.

A number of competitions and activities were organised for students, who participated in the event in a large number.

Addressing the participants, Mr Saranjit Singh, Principal of the School, stressed the need for learning Hindi and its importance in every sphere of life in the country. He urged students to resolve to learn Hindi and interact with their friends through this medium.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr V. Nayyar, Branch Manager of the SBI Chandigarh, who presided over the function, also urged students to make efforts to learn and speak Hindi. He also gave away the prizes to winners of different competitions.

SNIPPETS

Phone adalat held
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — The 18th telephone adalat was held under the chairmanship of Mr Prithipal Singh, Principal General Manager, here today. A press note said that 16 cases out of 33 were settled in their presence.

Function on ayurveda
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, Sept 25 — The local Gayatri Parivar Trust organised a function to spread the message of importance of ayurvedic and medicinal plants in preserving the environment. The Managing Trustee of Gayatri Shaktipeeth of SAS Nagar, Mr Chander Mohan, said the function was organised to observe the day of enlightenment of Bhagwati Devi Sharma of the Gayatri Parivar of Shanti Kunj in Haridwar.

As many as 150 representatives of the Gayatri Parivar from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh were imparted lessons on the importance of ayurvedic plants. Saplings of ayurvedic plants were distributed to the devotees.

On the occasion, Mr A.P. Pandey, Vigilance Director of Punjab, planted a sapling on the premises of Gayatri Shaktipeeth.

Diagnostic centre opening today
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, Sept 25 — A charitable diagnostic centre with the latest in technology will be inaugurated on September 26 at the Nursing Home site, Sector 4, Mansa Devi Complex, here.

Being set up by the Panchkula Welfare Trust, the idea is to help early diagnosis of diseases in the poor strata of society and undertake programmes in the fields of health, education, drinking water and general uplift of slum and rural areas.

''In most developing countries, the major cause behind most deaths due to diseases and illness is paucity of funds. In the absence of finance, a poor man cannot afford the huge expenditure the diagnosis of a disease entails even though treatment might cost much less. In setting up this centre, our target group is the poor man,'' Dr Naresh Mittal, General Secretary of the trust, said.

Though the centre will come up in four phases, it will start the first phase facilities with immediate effect. These comprise facilities of ultrasound, pathology laboratory and x-ray. In the second phase a cancer detection centre will be opened while the third phase will involve the setting up of the CT scan and MRI facilities. In the final stage, the centre will provide the facility of endoscopy and angiography.

Being run on the ''no-profit-no-loss basis'', the centre will also provide free service to the poor who cannot afford the cost of diagnosis. Two doctors have been entrusted with the responsibility of identifying the deserving cases.

Computer traders resent excise raids
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25 — Members of the Association of Computer Traders and Professionals, Chandigarh, yesterday went on strike in protest against the alleged harassment by the Excise and Taxation Department staff of the Chandigarh Administration.

The protesters assembled in Sector 17 and resented the sudden spurt of raids on the premises of the computer traders and professionals which, they alleged, had been launched with a view to stepping up the revenue of the department by any means.

Licensing work to be expedited
From Our Correspondent

KHARAR, Sept 25 — To expedite the work of licensing and registration of vehicles, new guidelines have been issued by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Kharar.

Mr Amarjit Singh Dhindsa, SDM, Kharar, in a press note issued here yesterday has written that new staff has been deputed to clear pending work. He said now registration clerk would always be available in the counter meant for this purpose and all pending work would be cleared within 15 days. In future relevant documents would be returned to the applicant within one month after making necessary entries, he added.

40 kiosks removed
From Our Correspondent

ZIRAKPUR Sept 25 — As many as 40 rehris and other kiosks along the Zirakpur-Panchkula highway were removed by the Punjab Public Works Department today.The encroachments on government land within 15 feet from the main road had come up in the past 10 years.The vendors, however, are resentful against the department for taking this action without giving them prior notice.